In the context of the invention, the term "belt" must be understood in a wide sense, i.e. it covers low girdles, high girdles, and various types of brace that extend downwards (even to below the knees) and/or upwards (possibly having two shoulder straps).
Such belts are commonly used to eliminate or at least reduce marks or scars forming folds of fibrous tissue that remain after treatment of deep lesions of the skin. They are recommended in particular by specialists of the following kinds of surgery: obstetric, digestive or visceral, and plastic or reconstructive.
Conventional support belts are made in the form of a unitary assembly of elastic textile material specially designed to exert permanent compression that is as controlled as possible on the zone concerned of the body, and in particular on the dorso-abdominal zone. Certain more elaborate belts specially selected for post-operative conditions comprise a crotch piece provided with a hook fastening having the effect that tension tends to be exerted both horizontally and vertically. A unitary assembly is thus obtained which is both effective as to its anti-edematal therapeutic effect, and attractive in appearance for the person wearing the support belt.
However, in certain situations, such belts are poorly or badly adapted to being worn for an extended period. This applies in particular to pregnant women insofar as the swelling of the abdomen interferes with the distribution of tension within the elastic cloth.
If a dorso-abdominal belt is fitted to exert controlled support at the beginning of pregnancy, then the swelling of the abdomen has the effect of giving rise locally to a support pressure that considerably exceeds 25 mmHg, with the risk of interfering with muscular functions and with a loss of control over the support exerted. However, if the belt is fitted to take account of future swelling of the abdominal, then the support exerted at the beginning of pregnancy will generally be insufficient, and in addition subsequent control of the support exerted will become more and more unpredictable as pregnancy advances. Under such circumstances, there is an even more frequent risk of encountering syndromes of the Lacome syndrome type (osteo-ligamento-muscular syndrome), with the appearance of fatigue and/or pain, and the woman feels a pressing need for relief that the belt cannot provide her.
The present invention seeks, in particular, to solve that problem by designing a dorso-abdominal support belt that does not have the above-mentioned drawbacks and limitations.
The person skilled in the art might be tempted to seek inspiration from comfort belts that already exist for satisfying the special case of pregnant women. However such belts are designed exclusively as comfort belts: in general single or double lacing extending in the vertical direction is used to vary the total abdominal circumference, and that goes directly against the looked-for therapeutic action of controlled support (on the contrary, rigid lacing runs the risk of interfering with muscular functions because of excessive compression), not to mention the material used which is of greater or lesser thickness and is not designed to exert permanent compression on the zone concerned of the body.
As a result, articles that already exist in specialized underwear for pregnant women is of no help in solving the above-mentioned problem relating to applying controlled support.
To round off the state of the art, mention may also be made of some very old solutions, the wearing of which would nowadays be prohibited because of their inability to control the support applied, which support is indeed nearly always circular only, thus running a risk of interfering with muscular functions.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,658 thus describes a back brace constituted by a back portion made of inelastic material and a front portion made of elastic cloth, having shoulder straps that are attached to a pubic gusset sewn onto said front portion. Because there is no crotch piece the support exerted by such a brace is circular only, and above all it cannot be controlled because of the inelastic nature of the back portion. In addition, the straps of that brace go against anatomy because the back fastenings are placed very high relative to the L4 and L5 lumbar vertebrae. Finally, such a design is quite unsuitable for a pregnant woman since the fastening of the straps on the pubic gusset constitutes rigid strapping passing over the abdomen which would constitute a danger for the pregnant woman.
Document FR-E-20 728 describes a pregnancy belt which is merely an abdominal support strap having elastic tapes serving to relieve the abdominal in the pubic region. Such a strap cannot perform genuine therapeutic support. In addition, the presence of fixing loops of non-elastic cloth makes it impossible to provide any control over the pressure exerted by the elastic tapes.
Document FR-A-617 964 describes a pregnancy garment made of ribbed cloth having inextensible front-and-back flat tapes stitched thereon together with oblique flat straps of extra-strong elastic cloth. Such a garment can exert circular support only and it does so with the risk of interfering with the large muscles. The inextensible tapes are particularly inappropriate for free play of muscular functions (and indeed, even in the event of muscular deficiency, interference with muscular functions gives rise to atrophy of said functions).
The technological background may be illustrated by referring to the following documents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,470, FR-A-1 213 302, U.S. Pat. No. 1,661,720, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,279.